Thursday, January 31, 2013

CBSSports.com’s Jon Heyman reports that the Yankees are close to signing DH Travis Hafner to a one-year, major-league contract.

Hafner, 35, is coming off a season in which he batted .228/.346/.438 in 263 plate appearances. Hafner’s substantial secondary skills (i.e., his ability to draw walks and hit for power) in tandem with his platoon skills (even over the last five seasons—his deep decline phase—he’s hit .269/.371/.457 against right-handed pitching) make him a useful addition, particularly at such a low cost. On the downside, Hafner is injury-prone and has spent significant time on the disabled list in each of the last five seasons.

Reader Comments and Retorts

Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.

Or just bad breaks? Was there anything that should have suggested that both Sizemore and Hafner's bodies would completely break down?

Hafner was/is really big and really muscular and the CW in baseball was always that those guys are injury prone, especially past 30 or so (as opposed to maybe 34-35 for "normal" players.) There was nothing to suggest Sizemore breaking down, though.

Also, remember when the Indians were getting high praise for locking up core players such as Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner? Admirable approach, but boy, some miscalculations in retrospect.

Weren't there a fair amount of negative comments about their locking up of Hafner? When they signed him to the extension, he still had 2 years left on his existing deal, and there were concerns about his late-bloomimg skills, general injury history, and complete uselessness in the field.

Here's the ZIPs thread, and the signing thread. Skimming quickly, the original signing thread was fairly positive, and the ZIPs thread more negative.

11 - Sure, there were signs for Hafner that he wasn't a great bet going forward, but completely break down immediately? Who came even remotely close to projecting 57 games of a .628 OPS for Hafner in 2008?

For 2008, ZiPs had him at .389/.508 in 508 ABs and PECOTA had him at .383/.490 in 636 PAs.

Muscular and dude I'll grant you. Oft-injured is undeniable. But the man's hit for a 125 OPS+ over the last 4 years -- that ain't ineffective. My concerns with the WAR DH penalty aside, they put him at +1 WAA over those last 1500 PA. The Yanks will be quite happy if they can get an average of his 2010-11.